WHAT AFFECTS EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT?

The factors we will look at are:

1. Intelligence
2. Class
3. Gender
4. Ethnicity

INTELLIGENCE
CYRIL BURT
The most obvious explanation for differences in educational achievement is the intelligence of the
individual. In Britain, the 1944 Education Act established the tripartite system of education. Children
were allocated to one of three types of school – grammar, technical or secondary modern largely on the
basis of their performance in an intelligence test, the eleven plus.

Educational psychologists (such as Cyril Burt [look at the small book]) were influential in the
establishment of this system. Burt’s research appeared to show that intelligence was largely inherited
and could be measured by the use of a test. It therefore made sense to send children to the type of
school best suited to their abilities. Grammar schools provided an academic education for those with a
high measured intelligence, while secondary schools catered for those with a lower measured
intelligence.

In the eleven-plus exam there was a strong correlation between results and social class, with middle-
class children getting higher average scores. Consequently more middle-class children gained places at
grammar schools.

Burt’s research into intelligence was later discredited – many of his results had simply been invented –
and the tripartite system was gradually replaced by comprehensives which all children attended
regardless of ability. In most areas the eleven plus phased out.

Nevertheless, many studies continue to show that there is a correlation between measured intelligence
and achievement in education. Working class children continue to score less well in intelligence tests
than middle class children. This might lead to the conclusion that lower intelligence continues to explain
class differences in achievement.

What is intelligence?
● The American psychologist Arthur Jensen defines intelligence as abstract reasoning ability and
argues that it is a selection of just one portion of the total spectrum of human mental abilities. It
is the ability to discover the rules, patterns and logical principles underlying objects and events
and the ability to apply these discoveries to solve problems.

● Intelligence is measured by intelligence tests which give an individual’s intelligence quotient or

IQ. Such tests are designed to measure abstract reasoning ability, and so exclude questions such
 as which is the highest mountain in the world? Which test knowledge and memory rather than
the ability to reason. Thus a simple IQ test may ask for the next number in the following
sequence: 2, 4, 6, 8. this question requires individuals to discover the pattern underlying the
sequence of numbers and to apply their discovery to solve the problem.

● Despite their widespread use, there is a large body of evidence to suggest that IQ tests are not a
valid measure of intelligence, particularly when they are used to compare the intelligence of
members of different social groups.

CULTURE AND INTELLIGENCE

● Many researchers argue that IQ tests are biased in favor of the middle class, since they are
largely constructed by and standardized upon members of this group. If it is accepted that social
classes and other social groups have distinctive subcultures and that this affects their
performance in IQ tests, then comparisons between such groups in terms of measured
intelligence of members of different social groups.

● This argument is best illustrated by the testing of non-Western populations with Western IQ
tests. The Canadian psychologists Otto Kleinberg gave a test to Yakima Indian Children living in
Washington State, USA. The test consisted of placing variously shaped wooden blocks into the
appropriate holes in a wooden frame as quickly as possible. The children had no problem with
the test but produced low scores because they failed to finish within the required time.
Kleinberg argues that this does not indicate low intelligence, but simple reflects the children’s
cultural background. Unlike Western culture, the Yakima do not place a high priority on speed.

● Such examples suggest that Western IQ tests are inappropriate for non-Western people. The
same argument has been applied to the use of IQ tests within Western societies which contain
different subcultural groups, including social class subcultures. Thus, the British psychologist
Phillip Vernon states that there is no such thing as a culture fair test, and never can be. This
suggests that conclusions based on comparisons of the average measured IQ of different social
groups must be regarded at best with reservation.

● Improves with practice

GENES AND INTELLIGENCE

● There is general agreement that intelligence is due to both genetic and environmental factors: it
stems partly from the genes individual inherit from their parents and partly form the
environment in which they grow up and live. Environmental influences include everything from
diet to social class, from quality of housing to family size. Some social scientists, such as Arthur
Jensen and Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray in America and Hans Eysenck in Britain argue
that IQ is largely inherited. They variously estimate that between 60 and 80 percent of
intelligence is genetically based.

● Studies of identical twins raised in different environments show that they have different IQ
scores. Since the twins are genetically identical, it can be argued that differences in their IQ are
caused by environmental factors. But this does not allow an accurate measurement of how
 much of the IQ score of each twin is due to environmental factors and prevents a reliable
estimate of the genetic and environmental component of intelligence.

● Despite objections to their views, Eysenck, Jensen and Herrnstein and Murray maintain that
genetically based intelligence accounts for a large part of the difference in educational
attainment between social groups. Eysenck claims that what children take out of schools is
proportional to what they bring into the schools in terms of IQ. Jensen is mare cautious when he
suggests that genetic factors may play a part in this picture. However, he does argue that there
is better evidence of the influence of genes on educational attainment that there is for the
influence of environmental factors.

ENVIRONMENT AND INTELLIGENCE

● Those who argue that differences in IQ between social groups are due largely to environmental
factors make the following points. It is not possible to estimate the degree to which IQ is
determined by genetic and environmental factors. Research has indicated that a wide range of
environmental factors can affect performance in IQ tests. Otto Klineberg summarized some of
the factors.

● “The successful solution of the problems presented by the tests depends on many factors – the
previous experience and education of the person tested his degree of familiarity with the
subject matter of the test, his motivation or desire to obtain a good score, his emotional state,
his rapport with the experimenter, his knowledge of the language in which the test is
administered and also his physical health that well-being as well as on the native capacity of the
person tested. “

● Given all the criticisms that were made of Eysenck and Jenson in the 1970s, it is perhaps
surprising that the same sorts of argument were revived by Herrnstein and Murray in the 1990s.
Their ideas have promoted just as much criticism as those of their predecessors, and the
evidence and arguments used to support their claims are unconvincing as those of Eysenck and
Jenson.
 CLASS
CLASS IS DIVIDED IN TWO PARTS:
1. Culture (deprivation and capital)
2. Material Factors.

CULTURE
J.W.B. DOUGLAS
● Douglas found that 77 percent of upper middle-class, 60% of lower middle-class, 53% of
upper working-class and 37% of lower working-class students gained good certificates at
GCE O Level. Comparing students of lower ability, he found even larger attainment
differences related to social class.
● Douglas also found that length of stay in the educational system was related to social
class. Within the high ability group, 50 percent of the students from the lower working
class left secondary school in their fifth year, compared with 33% from the upper
working class, 22% from the lower middle, and 10 percent from the upper middle class.
Again social class differences were greater for lower-ability students.
● To conclude he found that higher the class, higher the educational attainment. The
higher the social class bg the longer the stay in school.

PARENTAL INTERESTS
● Douglas related educational attainment to a variety of factors, including the student’s
health, the size of the family, and the quality of the school.
● The single most important factor appeared to be the degree of parents’ interest in their
children’s education.
● In general, middle class parents expressed a greater interest, as indicated by more
frequent visits to the school to discuss their children’s progress.
● They were more likely to want their children to stay at school beyond the minimum
leaving age and to encourage them to do so.
● Douglas found that parental interest and encouragement became increasingly
important as a spur to high attainment as the children grew older.
PRE-SCHOOL SOCIALISATION:
● Douglas also attached importance to the child’s early years since, in many cases,
performance during the first years of schooling is reflected throughout the secondary
school.
● He suggested that, during primary socialization, middle-class children receive greater
attention and stimulus from their parents. This forms a basis for high achievement in the
educational system.
● Douglas concluded, we attribute many of the major differences in performance to
environmental influences acting in the pre-school years.
Apart from this general observation, Douglas did not examine pre-school
socialization in detail. A large amount of research mainly, conducted by
psychologists, has explored the relationships between childrearing practices, social
class and educational attainment. Although the results of this research are far from
conclusive, there is some measure of agreement on the following points:
1) Behavior patterns laid down in childhood have important and lasting effects.
In particular, the child’s personality is largely shaped during the years of
primary socialization.
2) There are social class variations in child-rearing practices.
3) These variations have a significant effect upon attainment levels in the
educational system.
● Compared to working-class children-rearing practices, those of the middle class have
been characterized as follows:
○ There is an emphasis on high achievement.
○ Parents expect and demand more from their children.
○ They encourage their children to constantly improve their performance in a wide
range of areas, from childhood games to talking and table manners.
○ By rewarding success, parents instill a pattern of high achievement motivation
into their children.
● By giving their children greater individual attention and setting higher standards for
them to attain, parents provide a stimulating environment which fosters intellectual
development.
● In this way, middle-class child-rearing practices lay the foundation for high attainment in
the educational system.
CRITICISMS TO J.W.B DOUGLAS
A number of arguments have been advanced to suggest that working class parents are not
necessarily less interested in their children’s education just because they go to their children’s
schools less frequently than their middle-class counterparts. Tessa Blackstone and Jo
Mortimore make the following points:
1) Working class parents may have less time to attend school because of the demands of
their jobs.
Blackstone and Mortimore say: “frequency of visits to their child’s school may indicate
more about the relatively flexible working hours of fathers in non-manual occupations
than about their levels of interest in their child’s education.
2) Working Class parents may be very interested in their children’s education but they are
put off going to school because of the way teachers interact with them. Blackstone and
Mortimore argue that it’s possible that: ‘Working class parents feel ill at ease or the
subject of criticism when they visit school. Teachers represent authority and parents
who have and unhappy experiences at school or with authority figures may be reluctant
to meet them.
3) Blackstone and Mortimore also quote evidence from the National Child Development
Study which found that 89 per cent of middle-class but only 75 percent of working class
children attended a school with a well-established system of parent school contacts.
Thus it was easier for the middle class parents to keep in touch with the educational
progress of their children.
Even if Douglas were right that big variations in child rearing practices between social classes
exist (which is far from established), the view that behavior patterns laid down in childhood
have a lasting effect has been challenged. In an important article entitled Personal change in
adult life, Howard S. Becker shows that behavior can change radically depending on the
situation. He argues that changes in behavior patterns in adult life show clearly that human
action is not simply an expression of fixed patterns established during childhood. If Becker’s
view is correct, educational attainment is a reflection of what happens in the classroom rather
than what happens in the cradle.
BASIL BERNSTEIN
SPEECH PATTERNS
Bernstein distinguished two forms of speech pattern which he termed the elaborated code and
the restricted code. In general, members of the working class are limited to the use of
restricted codes, whereas members of the middle class use both codes.
● Restricted codes are a kind of shorthand speech. Those conversing in terms of the code
have so much in common that there is no need to make meanings explicit in speech.
Married couples often use restricted codes since their shared experience and
understandings make it unnecessary to spell out their meanings and intentions in detail.
● Bernstein stated that restricted codes are characterized by short, grammatically simple,
often unfinished sentences. There is limited use of adjectives and adjectival clauses, of
adverbs and adverbial clauses. Meaning and intention are conveyed more by gesture,
voice intonations and the context in which the communication takes place.
● Restricted codes tend to operate in terms of particularistic meanings, and as such they
are tied to specific contexts. Since so much is taken for granted and relatively little is
made explicit, restricted codes are largely limited to dealing with objects, events and
relationships that are familiar to those communicating. Thus the meanings conveyed by
the code are limited to a particular social group: they are bound to a particular social
context and are not readily available to outsiders.
● In contrast, an elaborated code explicitly verbalizes many of the meanings that are
taken for granted in a restricted code.
● It fills in the detail, spells out the relationships and provides the explanations omitted by
restricted codes.
● As such, its meanings tend to be universalistic; they are not tied to a particular context.
In Bernstein’s words, the meanings are in principle available to all because the principles
and operations have been made explicit and so public. The listener need not be plugged
in to the experience and understanding of the speaker, since the meanings are spelled
out verbally.
To illustrate his points, Bernstein gave the example of stories told by two 5 year olds, one with a
working class, and the other with a middle class background. The children were given four
pictures on which to base their story. In the first, several boys are playing football. In the
second, the ball breaks a window. The third shows a woman looking out of the window and a
man making a threatening gesture in the boys’ direction. The fourth picture shows the boys
retreating from the scene.
Using an elaborated code to spell out the detail in the pictures, the middle-class child describes
and analyses the relationships between the objects, events and participants, and his or her
story can be understood by the listener without the aid of the pictures.
The working class child, using restricted code, leaves many of his or her meanings unspoken,
and the listener would require the pictures to make sense of the story. This story is therefore
tied to a particular context, whereas the first story is free form context and can be understood
with no knowledge of the situation in which it was created.
● Bernstein explained the origins of social class speech codes in terms of family
relationships and socialization practices, and the nature of manual and non-manual
occupations. He argued that working class family life fosters the development of
restricted codes. In the working class family, the positions o of its members are clear-cut
and distinct: status is clearly defined in terms of age, sex and family relationship. This
clarity of status therefore requires little discussion or elaboration in verbal
communication. Father can simply say Shut up to his children, because his position of
authority is unambiguous.
● By comparison, members of middle-class families tend to relate more as individuals
rather than in terms of their ascribed status as father, son, mother and daughter.
Relationships tend to be less rigid and clear-cut and based more on negotiation and
discussion. As a result, meaning has to be made more explicit, intentions spelled out,
rules discussed, decisions negotiated. Middle-class family relationships therefore tend
to encourage the use of an elaborated code.
● Bernstein also saw a relationship between the nature of middle and working class
occupations and speech codes. He argued that working class jobs provide little variety,
offer few opportunities to participate in decision making, and require manual rather
than verbal skills. In a routine occupation in the company of others in a similar situation,
the manual worker is discouraged from developing an elaborated code. By comparison,
white collar occupations offer greater variety, involve more discussion and negotiation
in reaching decision and therefore require more elaborated speech patterns.

CRITICISMS TO BASIL BERNSTEIN

1. Harold Rosen states that Bernstein’s view of social class is vague: at times he talks about
the working class in general as having a restricted code; at others he specifies the lower
working class. Bernstein lumps together all non-manual workers into a middle class
whose members from top to bottom appear equally proficient in handling an elaborated
code. He thus ignores possible variety within these classes.
 2. Rosen also criticizes Bernstein’s characterizations of working and middle class family life
and work situations, demanding evidence for his assertions. Rosen notes a further lack
of hard evidence for elaborated and restricted codes: Bernstein provides few examples
to actually prove their existence.
3. Finally, Rosen argues Bernstein of creating the myth that the supposed middle-class
elaborated code is superior in important respects to working class speech patterns.
Rosen concludes that it cannot be repeated too often that, for all Bernstein’s work, we
know little about working class language.

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION
This states that the subculture of low income groups is deprived or deficient in certain
important respects and this accounts for the low educational attainment of members of these
groups. This theory places blame for educational failure on the children and their family, their
neighborhood and the subculture of their social group.
The so called culturally deprived child is deficient or lacking in important skills, attitudes and
values which are essential to high educational attainment. His or her environment is not only
poverty stricken in economic terms but also in cultural terms. The following quotation from
Charlotte K. Brooks is typical of the picture of the culturally deprived child which emerged in
Britain and the USA in the early 1960s:
“He is essentially the child who has been isolated from those rich experiences that should be
his. This isolation may be brought about by poverty, by meagerness of intellectual resources
in his home and surroundings, by the incapacity, illiteracy or indifference of his elders or of
the entire community. He may have come to school without ever having had his mother sing
him the traditional lullabies, and with no knowledge of nursery rhymes, fairy stories or the
folklore of his country. He may have taken few trips – perhaps the only one cramped,
uncomfortable trip from the lonely shack on the tenant farm to the teeming, filthy slum
dwelling – and he probably knows nothing of poetry, music, painting or even indoor
plumbing.”
The catalogue of deficiencies of the culturally deprived child includes linguistic deprivation,
experiential, cognitive and personality deficiencies, and a wide range of substandard attitudes,
norms and values.

CULTURAL DEPRIVATION AND EQUALITY OF EDUCATION

● The theory of cultural deprivation poses problems for the ideal of equality of
opportunity in education. It had been argued that the provision of similar educational
opportunities for all would give every student an equal opportunity to fulfill his or her
talents. In the USA the high school provided a uniform system of secondary education.
 In Britain, supporters of the comprehensive school argued that the replacement of the
tripartite system of secondary education – the grammar, technical and secondary
modern schools – with comprehensive system would go a long way towards providing
equality of educational opportunity. A single system of secondary schools should
provide the same opportunities for all.
● However, it became increasingly apparent that a uniform state educational system
would not provide everyone with an equal chance, since many would enter and travel
through the system with the millstone of cultural deprivation hanging round their necks.
● This realization slowly changed the notion of equality of educational opportunity.
Formerly it had been argued that equality of opportunity existed when access to all
areas of education was freely available to all. Now it was argued that equality of
opportunity only existed when the attainment levels of all social groups were similar.
The emphasis had changed from equality of access to equality of results.

COMPENSATORY EDUCATION AND POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION

● From the viewpoint of cultural deprivation theory, equality of opportunity could only
become a reality by compensating for the deprivations and deficiencies of low income
groups. Only then would low income pupils have an equal chance to seize the
opportunities freely provided for all members of society.
● From this kind of reasoning developed the idea of positive discrimination in favor of
culturally deprived children: they must be given a helping hand to compete on equal
terms with other children. This took the form of compensatory education – additional
educational provision for the culturally deprived. Since, according to many educational
psychologists, most of the damage was done during primary socialization, when a
substandard culture was internalized in an environment largely devoid of richness and
stimulation, compensatory education should concentrate on the preschool years.
● This thinking lay behind many of the programs instituted by the Office of Economic Opportunity during President
Johnson’s war on poverty. Billions of dollars were pouted into Operation Head Start, a massive program of pre-school
education, beginning in Harlem and extended to low income areas across America. This and similar programs aimed
to provide planned enrichment – a stimulating educational environment to instill achievement motivation and lay the
foundation for effective learning n the school system. The results were very disappointing in a large scale evaluation
of Operation Head Start, the Westinghouse Corporation concluded that it produced no long term beneficial results.

● During the late 60s and 70s the Office of Economic Opportunity tried a system of performance contracting. Experts
were contracted to raise the educational standards of low-income pupils on a payment by results basis. Highly
structured intensive learning programs were often used, similar to those developed by Bereiter and Engelmann at the
University of Illinois. Again the results were disappointing. Performance contracting sometimes produced short term
improvements but its effects were rarely lasting. From its evaluation of performance contracting, the Office of
Economic Opportunity concluded that the evidence does not indicate that performance contracting will bring about
any great improvement in the educational status of disadvantaged children.
EDUCATIONAL PRIORITY AREAS
● In Britain, compensatory education began in the late 1960s with the government
allocating extra resources for school building in low income areas and supplements to
the salaries of teachers working in those areas. Four areas were designated Educational
Priority Areas. Programs of compensatory education were introduced in the EPAs. These
were based mainly on preschool education and additional measures in primary schools
to raise literacy standards. Although it is difficult to evaluate the results, reports from
the EPAs were generally disappointing.
● A.H. Halsey, who directed the EPA projects, argues that positive discrimination in
England has yet to be given a fair trial. It has operated on a shoestring compared to
American programs – for example, in 1973 only one fifth of 1 percent of the total
education budget was spend on compensatory education. Writing in 1977, Halsey
stated, Positive discrimination is about resources. The principle stands and is most
urgently in need of application.

CRITICISMS OF CULTURAL DEPRIVATION

1. Others have argued that, as with theories of cultural deprivation in the sociology of
crime, health and poverty, those at the bottom of the pile should not be blamed for
what appears to be their own inadequacy. Nell Keddie amongst others has argued that
the concept implies that the culture that the targeted children are part of is in some way
deficient. No human can be deprived of culture as it is part of socialization. What the
arguments suggest is that anyone who is deprived of middle class cultural values in
some way lacking.
2. According to these critics, the education system, run by the middle class, discriminates
against any cultural views which differ from its own. What schools should recognize is
cultural difference, not deprivation. Working class culture should be recognized and
valued. Those not exposed to middle class culture in school would not then
underachieve.
3. Pierre Bourdieu has criticized the cultural deprivation theory by advancing his own
approach, cultural capital theory, which is strongly influenced by the Marxist
perspective. He argues that the failure of working class children is the fault of the
education system and not working class culture. Each social class, according to
Bourdieu, possesses its own set of meanings or cultural framework, which is internalized
through socialization within the family. Although one culture is not intrinsically superior
to another, the power of the dominant class enables them to impose their own
framework of meaning on the school as if it were the only legitimate culture. In effect
the dominant class defines what counts as knowledgeable or intelligent activity within
the school. Accordingly, working class children find it difficult to make progress within
 the education system, while children from the dominant class possess the cultural
capital required to achieve academic and eventually occupational success.

CULTURUAL CAPITAL
Includes:
● Basil Bernstein and language codes: Restricted vs Elaborated Code
● Douglas and Parental attitudes
● Bourdieu and cultural capital + Habitus
● Ball et al claim that middle class parents’ culture gives their children an advantage in the
education system

BOURDIEU
● Bourdieu refers to the dominant culture as cultural capital because, via the educational
system, it can be translated into wealth and power. Cultural capital is not evenly
distributed throughout the class structure, and this largely accounts for class differences
in educational attainment. Students with upper-class backgrounds have a built in
advantage because they have been socialized into the dominant culture.
● Bourdieu claims the success of all school education depends fundamentally on the
education previously accomplished in the earliest years of life. Education in school
merely builds on this basis; it does not start from scratch but assumes prior skills and
prior knowledge. Children from the dominant classes have internalized these skills and
knowledge during their preschool years. They therefore possess the key to unlock the
messages transmitted in the classroom; in Bourdieu’s words, they possess the code of
the message.
● The educational attainment of social groups is therefore directly related to the amount
of cultural capital they possess. Thus middle class students have higher success rates
than working class students because middle class subculture is closer to the dominant
culture.
● Bourdieu is somewhat vague when he attempts to pinpoint the skills and knowledge
required for educational success. He places particular emphasis on style, on form rather
than content, and he suggests that the way in which pupils present their work and
themselves counts for more than the actual scholastic content of their work.
● He argues that, in awarding grades, teachers are strongly influenced by the intangible
nuances of manners and style. The closer the student’s style to that of the dominant
 classes, the more likely the student is to succeed. The emphasis on style discriminates
against working class pupils in two ways:
● Because their style departs form that of the dominant culture, their work is penalized.
● They are unable to grasp the range of meanings that are embedded in the grammar
accent tone delivery of the teachers.
● Since teachers use bourgeois parlance as opposed to common parlance, working class
pupils have an in built barrier to learning in schools

THE SOCIAL FUNCTION OF ELIMINATION

Bourdieu claims that a major role of the educational system is the social function of elimination.
This involves working class from higher levels of education. It is accomplished in two ways
1) By examination failure
2) By self-elimination

● Due to their relative lack of dominant culture, working class pupils are more likely to fail
examinations, which prevent them from entering higher education. (However, their
decision to vacate the system of their own free will accounts for a higher proportion of
elimination. Bourdieu regards this decision as reasonable and realistic. Working class
students know what is in store for them. They know that the dice are loaded against
them. Their attitudes towards education are shaped by objective conditions and these
attitudes will continue as long as real chances of success are slim.)
● The arguments lead Bourdieu to conclude that the major role of education in society is
the contribution it makes to social reproduction – the reproduction of the relationships
of power and privilege between social classes. Social inequality is reproduced in the
educational system and as a result it is legitimated by educational failure.
● The educational system is particularly effective in maintaining the power of the
dominant classes since it presents itself as a neutral body based on meritocratic
principles providing equal opportunity for all. However, Bourdieu concludes that, in
practice, education is essentially concerned with the reproduction of the established
order. This it does by ensuring working class failure and the success of the higher class.
(This is all important in questions on functions of education / Marxism vs functionalism)
BOURDIEU, CC AND HABITUS
Bourdieu identified three forms of Cultural Capital:
1. Objectified CC includes material cultural goods such as books, dictionaries and
computers
2. Institutionalized CC includes academic qualifications and titles
3. Embodied CC includes wealth that is converted into a habitus, an integral part of the
person, including ways of speaking and acting. (Although habitus is learned or acquired
through socialisation and upbringing in families, it appears to be innate.)
Habitus refers to the values, attitudes, dispositions and expectations held by particular groups.
It defines everyday ways of doing things - in Bourdieu’s words, ways of walking or blowing your
nose, ways of eating or talking. It constructs ways of seeing the world and states what is
reasonable, appropriate, and to be expected. As a result, habitus generates thoughts,
perception, expressions and actions. Habitus is learned from an early age within the family. It is
a major part of primary socialisation and values from class to class.
He argues that the habitus of the dominant classes provides them with an advantage in the
education system. As a result of their habitus, parents and children are likely to have a positive
attitude towards education. This means that they will be inclined to do what is required to
succeed in education - from parents investing money in fee paying schools, private tutors and
extra=curricular activities, to children seeing education as important and working hard to pass
exams and gain admission to a top university.
● This dominant class habitus will be recognized by teachers as a readiness for school
knowledge. Teachers will take the view that they and the students are working towards
the same goal. As a result, teachers will tend to favour the children of the dominant
classes.
● By comparison, the working class tends to have a more negative attitude towards
education. It has lower expectations of success and sometimes rejects the values of
school. It may encourage resistance to the school and a negative withdrawal which
upsets teachers. This may lead to low attainment among some working class students.

TASTE, CLASS AND EDUCATION

● Using survey data as evidence, Bourdieu claims that people’s tastes - for example, in art,
films, music and food - are related to their upbringing, their class and their educational
attainment.
● The tastes of the dominant classes, which Bourdieu refers to as legitimate taste, tend to
have the highest prestige. They include so-called high culture - classical music, opera,
ballet, theatre, fine art and good literature. Legitimate taste on its own does not
 guarantee educational success or a well-paid job. However, it helps some students to
get into the most prestigious schools and universities.
● It also shapes teachers’ perceptions of their students. Unconsciously, teachers recognize
different tastes and the types of behaviour typical of different classes. They value and
reward legitimate taste more than middlebrow taste and in turn middlebrow taste is
valued more than popular taste. Such tastes may not even be part of the formal
curriculum but they play an important role in giving those from higher class
backgrounds more chance of success.

EVIDENCE-ALICE SULLIVAN
Alice Sullivan conducted a questionnaire survey of 465 16 year old students in four English
schools in order to test Bourdieu’s theory of class differences in educational attainment. (See
Unit 3.1.5.) She used parental occupations to determine the children’s social class where there
were two parents, she chose the one with the higher-status job. She used educational
qualifications to measure parents’ cultural capital.
● Students who read widely and watched more intellectual and ‘highbrow’ television
programs such as arts. Science and current affairs documentaries, and more
sophisticated drama, developed wider vocabularies and greater knowledge. These
students were more likely to achieve higher GCSE grades.
● Watching television programs such as soap operas (popular drama serials) and game
shows did not improve GCSE performance.
● Attendance at cultural events and involvement in music had no significant effect.
Suggesting that these should not be considered important aspects of cultural capital.
● On the surface, this research provides strong support for Bourdieu. However, Sullivan
found significant differences in GCSE attainment between middle-class and working-
class children even after the effects of cultural capital had been taken into account.
This led her to conclude that Bourdieu’s theory could only account for part of the class
differences attainment. Sullivan (2001) argues that ‘Other mechanisms, such as Class
differentials in material resources and educational aspirations, must account for the remaining
differentials in education attainment. Her conclusion suggests that cultural capital and parental
interest in education and parents’ economic situation all contribute to class inequality in
education attainment.
EVALUATION OF BOURDIEU
1. Bourdieu has been criticised, particularly by Marxists, for downplaying certain material
factors in particular, economic exploitation and oppression.
2. Critics argue that Bourdieu places too much emphasis on the structure of society in
shaping people’s behaviour rather than looking at how individuals can change and
transform society. For example, they argue that habitus is presented as determining
behaviour rather than as providing opportunities for individuals to direct their own
actions. As Sullivan (2002) puts it, ‘Bourdieu’s theory has no place not only for individual
agency. but even for individual consciousness.’
3. Concepts such as cultural capital and habitus have been criticised as vague, lacking in
precision and detail, and as difficult to operationalise (to put into a form that can be
measured).
4. Sullivan's test of Bourdieu’s theory suggests that cultural capital explains only a part of
educational attainment.
5. Despite the above criticisms, Bourdieu’s work has been extremely influential. It has
informed many studies in many countries. Concepts such as cultural, social and
economic capital and habitus have inspired and directed many important research
projects.
6. CC is key to high educational attainment. CC is concentrated in the dominant classes.
7. He also claimed that educational success depends mainly on the culture learned during
a child’s early years. Children of the dominant classes have a head start when they begin
school and this advantage continues throughout their educational career.

8. Schools and families are both central to Bourdieu’s analysis of the cultural reproduction
of inequality in society. He focused on how social inequalities were reproduced or
transmitted through the interactions between the pedagogical practices of schooling
and the cultural practices of students and their families.
BALL, BOWW AND GEWIRTZ – CULTURAL CAPITAL AND EDUCATION
CHOICE
They are talking about the cultural cap of parents and how they affect schools, they talk about
marketisation of education. Bec of this system parents have more opp to exploit the market.
They do this in two ways. (The bullets)

THE EDUCATION MARKET AND MIDDLE CLASS PARENTS

According to Ball et al, the educational reforms in England have altered the position of parents
and pupils. With Local Educational Authorities having less control over the allocation of pupils
to schools, there is more opportunity for parents to manipulate the market. In Particular, the
middle-class parents are exploiting the market in education and bringing their social and
cultural advantages to bear. They are in a better position than working class parents to ensure
that their children go to school for their choice. There are a number of reasons for this.
● Middle class parents possess more cultural capital than most working class parents.
They are more likely to have the knowledge and contacts to play the system. Ball et al
found from their interviews that strategies used by the middle class included:
attempting to make an impression with the head teacher at the open day; making a
private appointment to visit the head teacher; knowing how to mount a successful
appeal; and, most commonly putting in multiple applications.
● Gaining knowledge of the education system and manipulating it to your own advantage
requires a great deal of stamina as well as time and knowledge which middle class
parents can do bec their jobs are that way, usually only one parent is working, and they
have less working hours as compared to WC parents. – To research, visit schools, make
multiple applications and appeal. Middle class parents have their stamina sustained by
knowledge, contacts, time and money. Those with inside contacts in the education
system, such as teachers and their relatives, are in a particularly good position.

BALL ET ALL-WORKING CLASS AND ETHNIC MINORITY PARENTS

Ball et al, did not find that working class parents were any less interested in their children’s
education than their middle class counterparts. However, they tended to lack the cultural
capital and material advantages which enabled many middle class parents to influence which
secondary school their children attended.
● Many working class parents preferred to send their children to the nearest school
because a complex pattern of family demands and structural limitations. They placed
considerable imp on schools close to them, which is a part of their social community so
that it is easy and they don’t have to worry about a lot of things like transportation. And
that is where everyone else goes in the community. Not only was it more difficult for
them to secure a place for their children in a distant but successful school, but they
 actually placed considerable value on the advantages of obtaining schooling close to
home. “They want their children to go to a school which is easily accessible and does not
involve long and dangerous journeys; a school where friends, neighbors, and relatives’
children also go; a school which is part of their social community, their locality. “
● Some – though by no means all – ethnic minority parents also suffer disadvantages in
trying to manipulate the system to get their children into the best possible schools. If
they were born abroad they may have limited experience of British education. As a
result they don’t have knowledge to train their children into being successful. They don’t
have the cultural capital to manipulate system. Their cult capital is for the wrong edu
system.
● Furthermore, there are disadvantages for those who do not feel confident enough
about their English language skills to be able to negotiate the system, or who do not
have the necessary contacts to assist them in working it. As Ball et al put it, their cultural
capital is in the wrong currency and they are less able to accumulate the right sort.

SUBCULTURES AND CLASS

Subcultures are a culture within a culture.

It has been argued that a social class’s subculture and its distinctive norms and values affects
performance in the education system. Norms are guides to appropriate behaviour in particular
situations. Values are beliefs that something is important and worthwhile. While sharing the
culture of mainstream society, members of a class-based subculture also have some of their
own norms and values.

Herbert H. Hyman argued that the value system of the lower classes creates ‘a seIf-imposed
barrier to an improved position’. Wwhat this means is that they will argue that norms and
values of a working class cub cult work against them in the edu system,
Using a wide range of data from opinion polls and surveys conducted by sociologists, Hyman
outlined what he saw as differences between working-class and middle class value systems: So
how are their values different?
● Members of the working class place a lower value on education. Mmiddle class place
more imp bec their jobs are based on education.
● They also place a lower value on achieving high occupational status. WC parents are
happy with their children working at factories etc.
● Compared to their middle-class counterparts, members of the working class believe that
there is less opportunity for personal advancement. MC children are socilaised into
 achieving upwards social mobility. They are always taught they can improve bec the
system is equal in their eyes. But for WC they don’t see the system as equal and they do
not think of the system in such positivity.
These values did not characterise all members of the working class, a sizable minority did not
share them. In general, however, Hyman concluded that motivation to achieve, whether in
school or outside it, is generally lower for members of the working class. They lack the
motivation as compared to other members of society.

ATTITUDES AND ORIENTATIONS

BARRY SUGARMAN (1970) argued that middle and working-class subcultures contain
different attitudes and orientations, which may account for class differences in educational
attainment. In particular, he claims that working-class subculture emphasizes fatalism,
immediate gratification, present-time orientation and collectivism.
● Fatalism involves an acceptance of the situation rather than efforts to improve it. As
such, it will not encourage high achievement in the classroom. Iit’s an acceptance of a
situation without any efforts to improve it. A lot refer to all of this as the culture of
poverty.
● Immediate gratification and present-time orientation emphasize the enjoyment of
pleasures in the moment rather than sacrifice for future reward. This will tend to
discourage sustained effort, with its promise of examination success. It will also tend to
encourage early school-leaving for the more immediate rewards of wages, adult status
and freedom from the disciplines of school.WC students are thus effected in the way
they see the world. They don’t like this because edu requires delayed gratification bec
you get the rewards later.
● Collectivism involves loyalty to the group rather than the emphasis on individual
achievement that the school system demands.
Sugarman, therefore concluded that the subculture of students from working-class
backgrounds places them at a disadvantage in the education system.

CRITICISM OF THE CONCEPT OF CLASS SUBCULTURES

1) So-called working-class subculture may simply be a response in terms of mainstream
culture to the circumstances of working-class life. Thus members of the working class
may be realistic rather than-fatalistic. They might defer gratification if they had the
resources to do so. They might be future-oriented if the opportunities for successful
future planning were available. But Iif they had these opps they probably would be.
From this point of view, members of the working class share the same norms and values
as any other members of society. Their behaviour is not directed by a distinctive
 subculture. It is simply their situation that prevents them from expressing society’s
norms and values in the same way as members of the middle class. To conclude, their
values are the same, opps are diff, and that is why their behaviors differ.
2) The content of working-class subculture is sometimes derived from interviews and
questionnaires. Hyman’s and Sagerman’s data were largely obtained from these
sources. However, what people say in response to interviews or questionnaires may not
provide an accurate indication of how they behave in other situations. The data’s
validity can be questioned.
3) In a criticism of American studies, R.H. Turner (discussed in Colquhoun, 1976) notes that
social-class differences reported from interview and questionnaire data are often slight.
Sociologists are inclined to ignore the similarities between classes and emphasize the
differences. Sometimes this is because the differences tend to support their views in this
case, that class subcultures help to explain class differences in educational attainment.
American studies tend to be biased, bec they ignore the similarities between the classes
and try their hardest to sell their diff/biasness.

MATERIAL FACTORS
Somewhat economic.

1) COGNITIVIE DEVELOPMENT
Ddevelopment of your thinking abilities.

Jane Waldfogel and Elizabeth Washbrook (2010] looked at the relationship between
parental income and children’s cognitive development.
● There was a significant test score gap between the lowest and the middle groups.
● The largest gap that of 11.1 months was on the Naming Vocabulary Test a verbal ability
test in which children were shown pictures of objects and asked to name them. WC
class children were 11.1 months behind MC children.
● This test indicated that the cognitive development of children in poverty when they
started school was nearly a year behind that of middIe-income children. These children
enter at adv. bec their abilities have not developed to the same extent and context.
● This gap was reduced to nine months for children who spoke only English at home. But
the gap remains important, because it is likely to be reflected in the attainment gap
throughout the children’s educational career.
The researchers then attempted to identify factors which might help to explain the income-
related cognitive development gap. In terms of material factors, lack of a home computer and a
car (not the car itself but what the car can help you do/achieve, it helps in mobility) were the
most apparent. Lack of an annual holiday was a distinguishing factor. In terms of health, lower
birth weight and poorer health generally appeared to make a ‘modest contribution' to
lowering cognitive development. Factors which seemed to make a positive contribution to
cognitive development were parents reading to children and family trips to places of interest.
Nutrition was also a very major contributor. Diet is very important.

2) PRIVATE TUTION AND EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

● A study commissioned by the Sutton Trust in 2017 drew on data from the Programme
for International Student Assessment (PISA) which showed that one in six students in
Year 11 (aged 15-16) in England had private tutors in math and science.
● This proportion was similar to that in China But higher than that in countries such as
South Korea and Australia.
● In England and Wales, students aged 11-16 years from the highest-income families were
much more likely to have received private or home tuition than those from the lowest-
income families (John Jerrim. Sutton Trust, 2017).

Research indicates that involvement in extracurricular activities can have a positive effect on
educational attainment. However, parents in higher-income groups are more likely than those
in lower Income groups to pay for their children to attend extracurricular activities such as
classes in sport, dance, drama and music.

3) SCHOOLS IN DISADVANTAGED AREAS

Organizations such as Ofsted, report that, in general, the higher the level of deprivation in an
area, the lower the quality of schools. the poorer the neighborhood the worse off the school is.

RUTH LUPTON (2004) studied schools in deprived low-income areas in England.

● Teachers had serious student welfare issues to worry about. Compared to better-off
areas, students tended to be ‘anxious, traumatized, unhappy jealous, angry or
vulnerable’. They have more anxiety/emotional issues that is more likely to affect their
education and disrupt it as well/
● They were more likely to disrupt lessons and truant from school [to be absent without
permission).
● Teachers had difficulty maintaining high expectations, as they (teachers) were often
disappointed.
● They were careful to select inexpensive school trips because parents often lacked the
money to pay for them.
All of these had affects on their educational achievement.
 → CLAUDIA RANGEL AND CHRISTY LERAS (2010)
this is the study we use to prove what we have discussed so far. They examined the effects of
school quality and family background on the academic achievements of students in their final
year of high school in 2003 in Cartagena, Colombia.
● They found that family socio-economic background had a significant effect on student
achievement as measured by their mathematics and reading test scores. For example,
students from more privileged backgrounds had significantly higher achievements in
mathematics than less privileged students.
● This variation in achievement was partly explained by schooI-Ievel factors such as the
quality and the composition of the school.
○ Measures of school quality included the number of well-trained teachers and the
availability of educational resources such as libraries, science equipment, and
language and computer laboratories. Hhaving less resources such as these play
an important part as to why they don’t improve at the same rate as other kids.
Not well trained teachers also play a part.
○ School composition refers to factors such as the proportion of students from less
privileged families and whether the school was in the private or the public (state)
sector.
○ The significantly higher mathematics achievements among students from more
privileged socio-economic backgrounds was partly linked to their greater
likelihood of attending private schools and schools with lower levels of poverty
among the intake.

4) BARRIERS TO LEARNING
Basically everything else not yet discussed.

In a study of the effects of poverty on schooling, Theresa Smith and Michael Noble
[1995] list some of the ‘barriers to learning’ that can result from low income. These include:
● There may be insufficient funds to pay for school uniforms, school trips, transport to
and from school, classroom materials and, in some cases, school textbooks.
○ This can lead to children being isolated, bullied and stigmatised. As a result, they
may fall behind in their schoolwork.
● Children from low-income families are more likely to suffer from ill-health, which can
affect their attendance and performance at school. A reason of this lack of nutrionist
diet and lots of ppl live in smaller houses.
 ● Low income reduces the likelihood of a desk, educational toys, books and space to do
homework, and a comfortable well-heated home.
● The marketisation of schools is likely to increase the division between successful, well-
resourced schools in affluent areas and under-subscribed, poorly resourced schools in
poor areas.
○ This will ‘reduce rather than increase opportunities for children from poor
families. by concentrating socially disadvantaged children in a limited number of
increasingly unpopular schools'

BALL ET ALL
(did one part before, this one focuses on parents )
● Middle class parents can afford to pay for the public transport necessary to send their
children to more distant schools. They may also be able to pay for taxis and they are
more likely to have cars to take their children to school.
● They are more likely to be able to move house so that they live in the immediate
catchment area of a successful school with a good reputation.
● They are more able to afford extra help or coaching to get children into grammar
schools. Of course, they are also much more likely to be able to pay to have their
children educated privately.
● Middle class parents are more likely to be able to afford to pay for childcare for younger
children. This gives them more time to take their older children to more distant schools,
and to visit schools so that they can make an informed choice about which school they
want their children to attend.
 GENDER
Girls’ experience of school has always been different from that of boys. This is as old as, if not older
than, the growth of State intervention in education in the late nineteenth century. In this period, the
central motive behind educating girls was that they should become either knowledgeable companions
for men if they were middle class, or domestically able if they were not. Working-class girls were
uniformly taught needlework, cooking and domestic science, in an age where the highest profession any
woman could aim for was that of governess. The first women’s higher education college, Queen’s
College, was instituted with the sole aim of training governesses. Women were not allowed to take
degrees at the University of London until 1878, at Oxford until 1920, and on equal terms with men at
Cambridge until 1948 – although they were allowed to attend some lectures after 1872.

Sexism in education has persisted into the twentieth century and is reflected in numerous government
reports. The 1926 Board of Education report – Education of Adolescents – advocated an expansion of
the housecraft syllabus for girls on the grounds that Greater efficiency in the housewife would go far to
raise her status in the estimation of the community, by which they mean the male community. In the
year before the 1944 Act, the Norwood Report accepted the view that the destiny for a boy might be to
get a job and be academically successful, while for girls it was to marry and raise children, neither of
which require academic success. In the same year as the Robbins Report, the Newsom Report, Half our
Futures, argued that in addition to their needs as individuals, girls should be educated in terms of their
main function – which is to make for themselves, their children and their husbands a secure and suitable
home and to be mothers.

THE PROBLEM OF EQUALITY

In a different climate, the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 made it illegal for girls and boys to be treated
differently at school, and demanded equal school curricula, with both boys and girls moving out of their
traditional subject areas. The Act, however, did not say how this was to happen, and there has been a
considerable debate about whether co-educational or single sex schools are more beneficial to girls. The
evidence to date – Sandra Harding and Alison Kelly - suggest that girls perform better academically
when boys are out of the way.

Studies show that both genders study better without the other in the way.

SEXUAL DIVISIONS IN EDUCATION

Girls have long been more successful than boys in the early years of education. However, in the past,
boys tended to outperform girls in most areas after the age of 16. This is no longer the case in the UK. In
1981 the proportion of pupils in the UK gaining two or more GCE A Levels or equivalent was 30% for
boys and 28% for girls. By the early 1990s however, girls had bridged the achievement gap and since
then they have surpassed boys. In 22001 the proportion of pupils gaining two or more GCE A Levels was
37 percent for boys an d42 percent for girls.

The number of females staying on in education or training after the age of 16 has also increased. In
1986, 41 percent of males but just 33 per cent of females in the UK stayed on in education or training
until they were 18. In 1999 there was little difference between the seces with 62% of males and 60% of
females still in education or traiing at 18. In terms of access to university places the hange is even more
dramatic. In 1970 males outnumbered females on university degree courses by 2 to 1. By 1999 females
outnumbered males.

In seeking to understand why female achievement in education has improved so markedly in recent
years, it is helpful to consider explanation for the underperformance of girls that occurred in earlier
decades. It is important to note that some of the processes discussed may still be preventing female
pupils form achieving their full potential.

EXPLANATIONS FOR FEMALE UNDERPERFORMANCE

Teachers didn’t pay much attention to girls because they knew that they would grow up to marry a man,
while boys will enter the professional life when they grow up.

In trying to explain female underachievement, the concept of a stereotype – a fixed image based on
traditional ideas of what someone is or should be like – has been greatly used. The stereotype of girls
and boys persists throughout life – not least in education. Girls are domestically inclined, and are
centered on the internal world of the home, where they serve men. At school, they opt for subjects that
do not challenge their feminine self-concept, making biology their only foray into the scientific domain.
Boys, being more outgoing and aggressive, are interested in the external world of discovery and
adventure, science and engineering, subjects that confirm their masculinity.

GLENNY LOBANN reported on the rigid, stereotyped imagery of gender associated with children’s
books. The images mirror adult roles. Boys do active things the girl is at home with mother. The girl is
often seen making a cake, washing, sewing, ironing and so on with her mother. Subsequent studies have
conducted detailed analysis of reading material, for example Ann Coote discovered that ladybird books
presented very different role models for boys from those offered for girls. Since this study, there have
been major changes in images in reading schemes. It is difficult to assess the impact, however, of sexist
imagery, and we cannot state with certainty what the effect is likely to be on children who are
constantly exposed to it.

While men have lots of examples to look up to, women struggle to find inspiration in the system to
motivate them. It was also believed that girls were dumber than boys. Reading material and textbooks
were also sexist.

E.BELLOTI has shown how girls are expected to conform, more than boys. Bad behavior by girls is not
tolerated as much as it is by boys. Girls are also assumed to be capable of domestic roles, tidying up the
classrooms, doing jobs for teacher. Ann Marie Wolpe refers to evidence of the coaching of little girls by
their teachers into appropriate feminine behavior. She thinks that schooling is especially important in
the learning of gender identity, since children are in school for much of the period when they are
becoming aware of the importance of sexual relationships, and thus learning the definitions of approved
adult masculinity and femininity. She describes schooling for working class girls as an attempt to
produce an adaptable pliable and docile labor source with only marginal skills.

Jones found that different types of discipline were administered to girls and boys. Girls received fewer
and less severe reprimands. Teachers talked to boys and girls in different ways. Girls were frequently
spoken to in a tone of irritated tolerance, for example stop the chatter, GIRLS! Male teachers verbally
encouraged girls, perhaps patting them on the head, but to avoid causing them embarrassment in mixed
classes asked them fewer questions and easier ones.

Staffing in secondary education continues to show male dominance. Whilst women hold 60 percent of
the lowest posts in secondary education, only 23% of head teachers are women. The teaching
profession is also divided by subject area. Small wonder boys and girls talk of boys and girls subjects. 50-
55% of teachers of English are women. Less than 33% of maths teachers are women. Even fewer women
teach physics and chemistry.

CONFIDENCE
CAROL DWECK suggests that girls in mixed schools have a different profile in the classroom to boys.
Boys are more the subject of the teacher’s focus than girls; they are disciplined more, while girls are only
likely to be picked up for academic mistakes, not their conduct. Girls believe that if they do well, it is
because they have worked hard or have been lucky, not because they have more ability boys attribute
their success to their ability but if they fail they blame it on bad luck or lack of effort. Doing well
becomes a question of confidence, which teachers fail to bolster in girls. Lacking confidence, girls resist
new challenges, learn helplessness and correspondingly lower their aspirations and academic goals. This
pattern, Dweck argues, is present for girls even when they become university undergraduates. Males on
the other hand suffer none of these problems of self-assurance and even entertain wildly exaggerated
ideas about what careers lie ahead for them.

This argument can be extended to examine the different types of knowledge and techniques involved in
studying arts and science subjects. Subjects such as French, German and Spanish as well as being once
considered appropriate for Victorian middle class girls as conversational arts, develop by building on an
existing knowledge base. Science subjects such as physics and chemistry progress through constantly
taking on new ideas and concepts, at the same time continuously exposing students to the risk of
failure. Biology, however which does not carry the same masculine identification as other natural
sciences is perceived differently.

THE VISIBILITY OF GIRLS AND WOMEN

Tessa Blackstone and Helen Weinrich-Haste suggest that differential educational
achievement can be overcome if three areas are tackled. First, positive role models are needed. This
involves textbooks where role images are not gender based, or where girls are seen doing un-
stereotypical things. This also applies to teachers: women should teach technology and men domestic
science and more women should occupy senior positions in schools. Secondly teachers themselves
should raise their expectations of what girls are capable of, as they are a key contributor to reinforcing
gender roles. In a series of interviews with seven classed of boy and girl pupils, Michelle Stanworth
collated information that revealed that the students themselves claimed that boys stand out more
vividly in classroom interaction, are four times more likely to join in a discussion or make comments in
class, twice as likely to demand help or attention from the teacher and to be asked questions, and five
times more likely to be the ones to whom teachers pay attention. The third area is pupil motivation.
Girls need to be encouraged to develop a sense of independence, self-reliance and belief in their own
ability. They suggest that single sex schools may help girls in their most vulnerable years and science
courses should be compulsory up to the age of sixteen. The national curriculum is a move in this
direction.

SHARPE
Sue Sharpe’s interviews with Ealing schoolgirls reinforce these ideas. Although a majority of her
respondents expected to stop work for only a few years when their children were small, they
nevertheless saw marriage as a career in itself and success in male dominated areas as abnormal and
unattractive. What they have to overcome is the force of their socialization: by the time a girl reaches
adolescence she says her mind has usually been subjected to an endless stream of ideas and images
incorporating sexist values.

CHRSTINE GRIFFIN found that deviant girls are deviant in a different ways from boys. In attempting
to replicate Paul Willis’s study, Learning to Labor, she found that while most young men hung around in
those gangs of lads which have provided foundation for so many studies of youth cultures and
subcultures, young women either had one extremely close best girlfriend or spent time with a small
group of two, three or four female friends. At the most basic level, there was no clear similarity between
the social structures of female and male friendship groups.

THE STRUCTURE OF GENDER INEQUALITY

This is not to say that the position of women in the labor market will necessarily change simply because
their schooling has become more genuinely egalitarian. As Carol Buswell warns, Education may
occasionally help individuals to change their class buy it cannot change their sex, and thus the structural
position of women becomes an important aspect of understanding the educational experiences,
achievements, and choices of girls. It is the awareness of inequalities outside of school that will continue
to contribute to girls’ performance while still in school, no matter how gender free that experience may
be. It must also be said that, in discussing the relative performance of girls and boys in school and
considering the problem of gender stereotyping the very notion of girls as single undifferentiated,
homogeneous group is itself a stereotype, as with notion of age, ethnicity and class. Girls can
individually and collectively be bright or dull; noisy or quiet, riotously uncontrollable and wild or passive,
dutiful and co-operative.

THE GENDERED CURRICULUM

The hidden curriculum and labelling processes are both expressed through the subjects that individuals
choose to study. Males and females make different subject choices. GC is just another way saying how
the HC treats both girls and boys differently.

SELF AND ZEALEY for example, note that among undergraduates a higher proportion of women
than men studied subjects allied to medicine, while a greater proportion of men studied business and
administrative services. Higher proportions of men also studied engineering and technology subjects
and computer sciences.
Explanation: EICHLER emphasizes how different socialization experiences and social expectations
about males and females help to construct different gender identities and expectations about adult
roles. In the past, for example, the education system contributed to the way women saw their primary
adult role in the 'private sphere' of the family, as mother and housewife. Although female horizons have
widened over the past 25 years, feminists argue that traditional assumptions about masculinity and
femininity continue to influence both family and work relationships in areas such as the following:

● Textbooks and gender stereotyping: males appear more frequently and are more likely to be
shown in active rather than passive roles. Best for example demonstrated how pre=school texts
designed to develop reading skills remain populated by sexist assumptions and stereotypes.
Glenny Lobann can be used as an example here as well.
o Glenys Lobann reported on the rigid, stereotyped imagery of gender associated with
children’s books. The images mirror adult roles. Boys do active things the girl is at home
with mother. The girl is often seen making a cake, washing, sewing, ironing and so on
with her mother. Subsequent studies have conducted detailed analysis of reading
material, for example Ann Coote discovered that ladybird books presented very
different role models for boys from those offered for girls. Since this study, there have
been major changes in images in reading schemes. It is difficult to assess the impact,
however, of sexist imagery, and we cannot state with certainty what the effect is likely
to be on children who are constantly exposed to it.
● Subject hierarchies: both teachers and pupils quickly appreciate that some subjects are more
important than others, both within the formal curriculum, such as English, maths and science,
and outside the curriculum; subjects not considered worthy of inclusion and hence knowing. The
argument here is that gender hierarchies reflect these subject hierarchies, with males opting for
higher-status subjects in far greater numbers. Certain subjects are considered feminine and
certain mascuiline, the latter of which is deemed more important.

a. Teacher Hierarchies: Abbot and Wallace also suggest that concepts of masculinity and
femininity are influenced by factors such as academic hierarchies - how schools are
vertically stratified, with men normally occupying the higher status positions.
b. MAHONY argues that staffing structurs reflected male importance in the workplace; the
highest status teaching jobs were and remain occupied by men.
c. MIRZA ET AL note women make up 53% of the secondary teaching population, but are
still under-represented in secondary school senior management positions, particularly
headships; around 30% of secondary heads are women. In the nursery/primary sector,
although only 16% of teachers are male, 34% of head teachers are male.
d. Staffing in secondary education continues to show male dominance. Whilst women hold 60
percent of the lowest posts in secondary education, only 23% of head teachers are women.
The teaching profession is also divided by subject area. Small wonder boys and girls talk of
boys and girls subjects. 50-55% of teachers of English are women. Less than 33% of maths
teachers are women. Even fewer women teach physics and chemistry.
NORMAN ET AL argue that teacher expectations, especially in early years schooling, emphasise
female roles related to the mother/carer. While this may no longer automatically see their primary role
as one of caring for their family, work roles continue to be framed around the idea of different male and
female capabilities, both mental and physical. This can result in gendered subject choices.

BAMFORD notes how certain subjects attract gendered labels - sciences such as physics and
chemistry were seen as masculine, while social sciences were seen as feminine. These gendered
perceptions may explain lower levels of female participation and general achievement in science
subjects.

ABBOT AND WALLACE also suggest that concepts of masculinity and femininity are influenced by
factors such as academic hierarchies - how schools are vertically stratified, with men normally occupying
the higher status positions.

MAHONY AND MIRZA ET ALL : SAME POINTS AS MENTIONED IN THE BULLETS ABOVE

REASONS FOR THE IMPROVED ACHIEVEMENT OF FEMALES

A variety of explanatiosn has been offered for the improved achievement of females in education. The
increased involvement of married women in the labour market, especially since the Second World War,
has increased the incentive for women to gain educational qualifications. Sharpe repeated her 1970s
research on teenage girsl in the 1990s. She found that they no longer attached primary importance to
marriage and having children, and instead emphasized the importance of having a job or career more
than their counterparts had in the 70s.

*Boys rebel thru rejecting authority but girls don’t roam in gangs, they form bedroom culture to
express their sexuality.

EIRENE MITSOS AND BROWNE

There has been a change in the education system, and the reason women are doing better is because
they are better at organizing their time. Another reason they do better is when you separate the two
sexes.

They argue that the women’s movement and feminist sociologists have highlighted some of the
disadvantages faced by girls. As a result, schools are now generally more committed to improving
opportunities for girls. They also cite research that shows girls tend to be better organized than boys.
Girls’ greater motivation and organizational skills may give them an advantage in carrying out
coursework tasks, which now count for more in assessments than was the case in the past.

There may also be factors that are causing males to underachieve. The decline in heavy industry has
taken away many of the jobs for which working class boys would traditionally have been expected to
train. This may have removed the incentive for working class boys to try hard at school, as they see little
chance of attaining a good job at the end of it. The trend to teach boys and girls together in schools may
also have contributed to underperformance of boys. This is because boys are more likely to show off and
disrupt the lessons in mixed sex classes. This partly explains why boys are much more likely to be
expelled: some 80% of those permanently excluded from schools in the UK are boys.

# gendered curriculum’s answer plan is also attached because it includes some extra important
information which is not in these specific notes. #

2 (a) Explain how educational outcomes can be shaped by the pupil-teacher relationship. [9]

[5–9] At this level, there will be some use of relevant sociological sources, such as concepts, theories and
explanations. Answers will cover a range of points and show a sound understanding of the issues raised
by the question. Answers that provide a basic account of how the pupil and teacher relationship may
influence educational performance would fit the lower part of the band. A basic account of this kind will
lack detail and may be confined to a narrow range of points. Higher in the band the answer will be more
developed and may include reference to relevant studies and/or cover a wider range of links between
classroom interaction and educational performance. Good answers may also be distinguished by use of
relevant links to the interactionist perspective.

(b) ‘The gendered curriculum is the main obstacle to females achieving educational success.’ Assess
this view. [16]
[0–6] At this level, there may be little or no reference to relevant sociological sources. Answers may rely
on general knowledge and/or personal observation. Explanations will be brief and cover only a narrow
range of relevant points. A few general observations about inequality in education with no direct links to
gender would be worth up to 3 marks. An accurate account of what is meant by the gendered
curriculum, with no further links to the question, could gain up to a maximum of 6 marks.

[7–11] Answers at this level will provide a sound account of the gendered curriculum and its relationship
to female educational success. Lower in the band, answers will explain the relationship between the
gendered curriculum and obstacles to the educational success of females, but the account will lack
detail and depth. Higher in the band the relevant links between the gendered curriculum and the
educational performance of females will be explained with greater development; for example, good
answers might include references to appropriate studies and theorists, such as Lobban, Best, Abraham,
Stanworth and Spender.

[12–16] Answers that fit this band will demonstrate a good understanding of how the gendered
curriculum might adversely affect the educational opportunities of female pupils. Other obstacles to the
educational success of females might be discussed. There will also be an assessment of the view on
which the question is based. Lower in the band the assessment may rely on a simple juxtaposition of
different theories of education, such as the feminist and the functionalist views. To reach the top part of
the band the assessment must also include a more direct engagement with the debates about gender
and educational achievement. Good answers may discuss the extent to which the gendered curriculum
impacts upon the educational performance of females and males. There is also scope to question the
coherence of the concept of the gendered curriculum. Likewise, evidence about the relative
performance of female and male pupils today might also be used to question how far the curriculum
contains a bias in favour of male pupils.

The hidden curriculum and labelling processes are both expressed through the subjects that individuals
choose to study. Males and females make different subject choices.

SUBJECT SELECTION
SELF AND ZEALEY for example, note that among undergraduates a higher proportion of
women than men studied subjects allied to medicine, while a greater proportion of men studied
business and administrative services. Higher proportions of men also studied engineering and
technology subjects and computer sciences.

Explanation: EICHLER emphasizes how different socialization experiences and social expectations about
males and females help to construct different gender identities and expectations about adult roles. In
the past, for example, the education system contributed to the way women saw their primary adult role
in the 'private sphere' of the family, as mother and housewife. Although female horizons have widened
over the past 25 years, feminists argue that traditional assumptions about masculinity and femininity
continue to influence both family and work relationships in areas such as the following:

● Subject hierarchies: both teachers and pupils quickly appreciate that some subjects are more
important than others, both within the formal curriculum, such as English, maths and science,
and outside the curriculum; subjects not considered worthy of inclusion and hence knowing. The
argument here is that gender hierarchies reflect these subject hierarchies, with males opting for
higher-status subjects in far greater numbers.
 e. NORMAN ET ALL argueS that teacher expectations, especially in early years schooling,
emphasise female roles related to the mother/carer. While this may no longer automatically
see their primary role as one of caring for their family, work roles continue to be framed
around the idea of different male and female capabilities, both mental and physical. This can
result in gendered subject choices.

f. BAMFORD notes how certain subjects attract gendered labels - sciences such as physics
and chemistry were seen as masculine, while social sciences were seen as feminine. These
gendered perceptions may explain lower levels of female participation and general
achievement in science subjects.

2) Text Books
a. Eichler: Textbooks and gender stereotyping: males appear more frequently and are more
likely to be shown in active rather than passive roles. Best for example demonstrated how
pre=school texts designed to develop reading skills remain populated by sexist assumptions
and stereotypes.
b. Glenys Lobban reported on the rigid, stereotyped imagery of gender associated with
children’s books. The images mirror adult roles. Boys do active things the girl is at home
with mother. The girl is often seen making a cake, washing, sewing, ironing and so on with
her mother. Subsequent studies have conducted detailed analysis of reading material, for
example Ann Coote discovered that ladybird books presented very different role models for
boys from those offered for girls. Since this study, there have been major changes in images
in reading schemes. It is difficult to assess the impact, however, of sexist imagery, and we
cannot state with certainty what the effect is likely to be on children who are constantly
exposed to it.

3) Teacher Hierarchy:
a. Abbot and Wallace also suggest that concepts of masculinity and femininity are influenced
by factors such as academic hierarchies - how schools are vertically stratified, with men
normally occupying the higher status positions.
b. Mahony argues that staffing structurs reflected male importance in the workplace; the
highest status teaching jobs were and remain occupied by men.
c. Mirza et al note women make up 53% of the secondary teaching population, but are still
under-represented in secondary school senior management positions, particularly
 headships; around 30% of secondary heads are women. In the nursery/primary sector,
although only 16% of teachers are male, 34% of head teachers are male.
d. Staffing in secondary education continues to show male dominance. Whilst women hold 60
percent of the lowest posts in secondary education, only 23% of head teachers are women.
The teaching profession is also divided by subject area. Small wonder boys and girls talk of
boys and girls subjects. 50-55% of teachers of English are women. Less than 33% of maths
teachers are women. Even fewer women teach physics and chemistry.

4) Discipline:
a. E. Belotti has shown how girls are expected to conform, more than boys. Bad behavior by
girls is not tolerated as much as it is by boys. Girls are also assumed to be capable of
domestic roles, tidying up the classrooms, doing jobs for teacher. Ann Marie Wolpe refers to
evidence of the coaching of little girls by their teachers into appropriate feminine behavior.
She thinks that schooling is especially important in the learning of gender identity, since
children are in school for much of the period when they are becoming aware of the
importance of sexual relationships, and thus learning the definitions of approved adult
masculinity and femininity. She describes schooling for working class girls as an attempt to
produce an adaptable pliable and docile labor source with only marginal skills.
b. Jones found that different types of discipline were administered to girls and boys. Girls
received fewer and less severe reprimands. Teachers talked to boys and girls in different
ways. Girls were frequently spoken to in a tone of irritated tolerance, for example stop the
chatter, GIRLS! Male teachers verbally encouraged girls, perhaps patting them on the head,
but to avoid causing them embarrassment in mixed classes asked them fewer questions and
easier ones.
5) Other Factors (gendered)
a. Confidence: Carol Dweck suggests that girls in mixed schools have a different profile in the
classroom to boys. Boys are more the subject of the teacher’s focus than girls; they are
disciplined more, while girls are only likely to be picked up for academic mistakes, not their
conduct. Girls believe that if they do well, it is because they have worked hard or have been
lucky, not because they have more ability boys attribute their success to their ability but if
they fail they blame it on bad luck or lack of effort. Doing well becomes a question of
confidence, which teachers fail to bolster in girls. Lacking confidence, girls resist new
challenges, learn helplessness and correspondingly lower their aspirations and academic
goals. This pattern, Dweck argues, is present for girls even when they become university
undergraduates. Males on the other hand suffer none of these problems of self-assurance
and even entertain wildly exaggerated ideas about what careers lie ahead for them.

This argument can be extended to examine the different types of knowledge and techniques
involved in studying arts and science subjects. Subjects such as French, German and Spanish
as well as being once considered appropriate for Victorian middle class girls as
conversational arts, develop by building on an existing knowledge base. Science subjects
such as physics and chemistry progress through constantly taking on new ideas and
 concepts, at the same time continuously exposing students to the risk of failure. Biology,
however which does not carry the same masculine identification as other natural sciences is
perceived differently.

b. The visibility of girls and women:

Tessa Blackstone and Helen Weinrich-Haste suggest that differential educational
achievement can be overcome if three areas are tackled. First, positive role models are
needed. This involves textbooks where role images are not gender based, or where girls are
seen doing un-stereotypical things. This also applies to teachers: women should teach
technology and men domestic science and more women should occupy senior positions in
schools. Secondly teachers themselves should raise their expectations of what girls are
capable of, as they are a key contributor to reinforcing gender roles. In a series of interviews
with seven classed of boy and girl pupils, Michelle Stanworth collated information that
revealed that the students themselves claimed that boys stand out more vividly in
classroom interaction, are four times more likely to join in a discussion or make comments
in class, twice as likely to demand help or attention from the teacher and to be asked
questions, and five times more likely to be the ones to whom teachers pay attention. The
third area is pupil motivation. Girls need to be encouraged to develop a sense of
independence, self-reliance and belief in their own ability. They suggest that single sex
schools may help girls in their most vulnerable years and science courses should be
compulsory up to the age of sixteen. The national curriculum is a move in this direction.

c. Sharpe: Sue Sharpe’s interviews with Ealing schoolgirls reinforce these ideas. Although a
majority of her respondents expected to stop work for only a few years when their children
were small, they nevertheless saw marriage as a career in itself and success in male
dominated areas as abnormal and unattractive. What they have to overcome is the force of
their socialization: by the time a girl reaches adolescence she says her mind has usually been
subjected to an endless stream of ideas and images incorporating sexist values.

d. Chrstine Griffin found that deviant girls are deviant in a different ways from boys. In
attempting to replicate Paul Willis’s study, Learning to Labor, she found that while most
young men hung around in those gangs of lads which have provided foundation for so many
studies of youth cultures and subcultures, young women either had one extremely close
best girlfriend or spent time with a small group of two, three or four female friends. At the
most basic level, there was no clear similarity between the social structures of female and
male friendship groups.

e. The structure of gender inequality: their position in society is also important

This is not to say that the position of women in the labor market will necessarily change
simply because their schooling has become more genuinely egalitarian. As Carol Buswell
warns, Education may occasionally help individuals to change their class buy it cannot
change their sex, and thus the structural position of women becomes an important aspect
of understanding the educational experiences, achievements, and choices of girls. It is the
 awareness of inequalities outside of school that will continue to contribute to girls’
performance while still in school, no matter how gender free that experience may be. It
must also be said that, in discussing the relative performance of girls and boys in school and
considering the problem of gender stereotyping the very notion of girls as single
undifferentiated, homogeneous group is itself a stereotype, as with notion of age, ethnicity
and class. Girls can individually and collectively be bright or dull; noisy or quiet, riotously
uncontrollable and wild or passive, dutiful and co-operative.

6) Reasons for the improved achievement of females: maybe the curriculum isn't so gendered
afterall.

A variety of explanatiosn has been offered for the improved achievement of females in education. The
increased involvement of married women in the labour market, especially since the Second World War,
has increased the incentive for women to gain educational qualifications. Sharpe repeated her 1970s
research on teenage girsl in the 1990s. She found that they no longer attached primary importance to
marriage and having children, and instead emphasized the importance of having a job or career more
than their counterparts had in the 70s.

Eirene Mitsos and Ken Browne argue that the women’s movement and feminist sociologists have
highlighted some of the disadvantages faced by girls. As a result, schools are now generally more
committed to improving opportunities for girls. They also cite research that shows girls tend to be better
organized than boys. Girls’ greater motivation and organizational skills may give them an advantage in
carrying out coursework tasks, which now count for more in assessments than was the case in the past.

Other factors rather than gender:

● Class
● ethnicity
 ETHNICITY
Ethnic minorities in Britain have provided and continue to provide new statistical patterns for
sociologists to explain. It is highly misleading – if not racist – so see all non-whites as undifferentiated
mass, lumping them all together as a single ethnic minority. The pattern of educational results shows
different levels of achievement between different groups. Broadly speaking, Indians have the same level
of attainment as whites, while West Indians and Bangladeshis, by contrast, and consistently
underachieve. A number of arguments, backed by research have been put forward to explain this
pattern.

The patterns which emerged in the 1960s showed that some children of Asian origin were
underachieving, mainly due to language barriers, but that once this is overcome they achieve on a level
with white middle-class children. If the categories are further divided there are differences within the
Asian group according to caste and class.

Afro-Caribbean British children have also been shown to underachieve, although again this problem is
complicated by, for example, gender differences. Why does this group underachieve? Some of the
explanations which have been offered are similar to those used to explain social class
underachievement. Disorganized families, the lack of encouragement, poor housing and attitudes to
white authority have all been blamed.

ETHNOCENTRICITY
Experiments in compensatory education have attempted to remedy this underachievement, but have
had little success. However, explanations which look into the classroom provide more insight. The British
government’s policy toward education in the 1950s, 1960s and the most of the 1970s was to ignore
cultural differences and educate all children into a white, British culture. This was reflected in the
reading schemes which showed an all-white home and society. Blacks were invisible or in low status
roles such as Bus conductors or maids. Enid Blyton’s Noddy was mugged by golliwogs; the black witch
and the black wood held evil; the white prince and princess were beautiful and good. At a higher level,
history gave a glowing account of the wonder and kindness of the British, extending their Empire all over
the world and civilizing savages. There is a great deal of argument about the effects of these factors, and
some argue that a childhood of Noddy and the golliwogs does not make you a racist or a sexist. However
the unconscious internalization of negative images may leave a stereotype lurking in your head, which
makes you racist without you knowing it.

CLASS
As with other aspects of educational attainment, class is seen as an important dimension of ethnicity,
and it has been suggested that Indians and African Asians occupy a higher class position than either
West Indians or Bangladeshis. This is a consequence of the differing historical factors behind their
immigration into Britain. It then follows that class plays a role in their educational lives in the same ways
discussed earlier. Similarly, it has been asserted that, for historical and cultural reasons it has been
easier for Indians to fit into British culture. Some commentators have also pointed to the
disproportionately high number of single parent Afro Caribbean families, with insufficient time and
money to support their Children during their school years.
GENDER
Numerous studies have also shown that Afro-Caribbean girls do better than boys while at school. In
trying to understand why this happens, Mary Fuller foun that, while black girls are unwilling to show it,
they recognize the importance for their futures of getting good qualifications. At the same time they are
determined to achieve them without compromising their positive self-image as black and female or
showing their teachers ro the boys, that they are too keen. Outwardly, they appear to be uninterested
and indifferent to what is happening in the classroom.

It is less clear why Afro-Caribbean boys become unmotivated and develop forms of resistance to school.
Racism in the curriculum, from teachrs and in the wider society have all been suggested as contributory
factors, but they have not yet been confirmed by research. These three factors, of course, remain
essential to any understanding of the relationship between ethnicity and educational
underachievement.

THE WHITE MIDDLE CLASS TEACHER

Unconscious, or covert, racial differentiation can be a part of teaching practice. The teacher is most
likely to be white and socialized by a British culture which some anti-racist thinkers claim is riddled with
racism. Their outlook and background are white and middle class, steeped in the glories of the British
Empire when it was the white man’s burden to educate, Christianize and civilize the blacks. Four
hundred years of these attitudes cannot be changed overnight. Teachers may use stereotypes of West
Indians as deviant or unintelligent or subnormal. Labeled in this way, meeting racism in reading books,
textbooks and from other children, black youths are forced to react and often fail. Stereotypes of being
good at sport and music actively work against them: being given time off lessons to practice basketball
or to play in the steel band, leave gaps in a pupils’ education.

MULTI CULTURAL AND ANTI RACIST EDUCATION

The pattern of underachievement was so marked that it was recognized by Afro-Caribbean parents in
the early 1960s, and voluntary Saturday schools, staffed by black parents and teachers, to supplement
the basic education have been operational for many years. During the 1970s and 1980s a policy
response to this discrimination was developed – multicultural education. The idea is to provide and
education in cultures which exist alongside and within white, middle class culture. Non-European
history, languages and religion were injected into the curriculum in many inner-city, mixed race schools,
however, schools in parts of the country where there were few ethnic minorities did not take this up,
and the children who needed it most, those whose only meeting with other cultures was in racist texts,
never experienced multiculturalism.

The latest direction in education criticizes this approach as worthless. Anti-racist educationists say that
multiculturalism merely dabbles in cultural differences, and dressing everyone up in saris or listening to
calypsos and reggae does not address the real issues of racism, prejudice and discrimination. Leading
children to believe that there is racial equality and respect for all cultures in society does not do children
any favors. British society is racist, and education should address the issues of discrimination, prejudice
and racial hatred.
Black Caribbean boys start primary school on a par with their white counterparts. By age 11 they are
falling behind, and by age 16 they are one of the lowest performing ethnic gender groups. To some
extent, they catch-up and improve their attainment levels in further and higher education.

Some researchers argue that minority ethnic underachievement is due primarily to racism in schools.
This racism is usually unconscious and unintentional - the majority of teachers are well intentioned and
not consciously racist.

1) BERNARD COARD RACISM AND UNDERACHIVEMENT

Coard argues that African Caribbean children are made to feel inferior in the British
education system because:
a) A disproportionate number of Black Caribbean children are placed in ESN special schools
- schools for the educationally subnormal.
• Many have been wrongly placed there, according to the judgement of the head
teachers.
• Once placed in ESN schools, less than 10% ever return to mainstream schools.
• It is assumed that the ESN child has low capabilities - they cannot cope with the
academic requirements of a normal school.
b) The content of education tends to ignore black people
c) Many teachers are racist
d) Teachers tend to have low expectations of black pupils
e) Attitudes in the classroom are reinforced by pupils in the playground, where racial
abuse and bullying may occur.

Black Caribbean students in mainstream schools underachieve due to:

a) the racism of many teachers
b) The low expectations teachers have of black students' ability.
c) Low expectations reduce the amount of effort teachers expend.
d) These low expectations also reduce the motivation of students, lower their self-esteem, and
resulting a self-fulfilling prophecy. For pupils that are placed in lower streams and bands
and expected to fail, there is a tendency for this prophecy to come to pass.
e) The black child's true identity is denied daily in the classroom. He is made to feel inferior in
every way.

2) WRIGHT-RACISM IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Wright conducted an ethnographic study of four multi-racial inner city primary schools
using classroom observations and interviews with the teachers.
She found that although the majority of staff were committed to equality of opportunity,
there was still considerable discrimination:
a) Asian girls received less attention from teachers because there were presumed to be shy.
b) Asian customs and traditions were sometimes disapproved of by teachers and this in turn
was picked up by the other students and results in alienating Asian children from the rest of
the class.
c) African Caribbean boys received much negative attention from teachers, who expected
African Caribbean pupils to behave badly.

3) MIRZA-YOUNG FEMALE BLACK

a) The black girls in Mirza’s sample did better in exams than black boys and white pupils in
the school. She believes that the educational achievements of black women are
underestimated.
b) Mirza also challenges the labelling theory of educational underachievement. Although
there was some evidence of racism among teachers, she denies that this undermined
the self-confidence of the black girls. Most girls were concerned with academic success
and prepared to work hard.
c) Most teachers tried to meet the girls’ needs but failed to do so by, for instance, failing to
push black pupils hard enough or by patronizing them.

4) MAC AND GHAIL-ETHNIC MINORITIES IN SIXTH FORM

a) He found that the way students responded to schooling varied considerably and was
influenced by their ethnicity, gender and the class composition of their former
secondary schools.
b) All of the ethnic minority students experienced problem in the education system, but
they experienced them differently depending on their gender and ethnic group.
Nevertheless, they had all enjoyed some success. They had achieved this through
adopting a variety of survival strategies.
• Some of the girls had banded together. They would help each other out with
academic work but were less willing to conform to rules about dress appearance and
behavior in class.
• Some of the other ethnic minority pupils were less hostile to their schools. They
tried to become friendly with some teachers while avoiding others who they
identified as racist.
c) Like Mirza’s study, Mac and Grails claimed that labelling does not necessarily lead to
academic failure. Although such labelling creates extra barriers, some students are able
to overcome them.

5) GILBORN ET ALL-RATIONALING EDUCATION

a) He found that in some local education authorities ethnic minorities seemed to be
particularly disadvantaged, suggesting that those areas had a significant problem with
racism.
 b) He found a system of educational triage:
a. Everything is about passing the tests.
b. Students are identified who are weak
c. Extra help is directed towards them
d. Those written off as lost causes who can’t get Cs are ignored.
e. These students tended to be black!
c) There was a system of racialized expectations, in which the behavior of black pupils was
interpreted as threatening, rather than as evidence of wanting to succeed.
Unintentional racism (complexity) therefore held many black pupils back.

6) SEWELL BLACK MASCULINITIES (ITS NOT RACISM)

a) Sewell argues that factors outside school are more important than racism in school to
explain the low achievement of many African Caribbean boys.
b) He finds a disproportionate number of African Caribbean boys are raised in lone parent
families
• Many therefore lack a positive adult male role model and they may not be well
disciplined in the family making them more vulnerable to peer pressure.
• Some boys are drawn into gangs which emphasize an aggressive macho masculinity
and do not respect authority figures including teachers
• This is reinforced by the media which reports black gun crime and the culture of hip
hop and ‘gangster’ rap.
Sewell has been criticized for blacking black culture for the educational failure of African
Caribbean boys and drawing attention away from the failing of the education system.
However, he does point out only a minority of African Caribbean boys are a part of an anti-
school subculture.
Note: if the question is asking you whether racism is the reason why education achievement
of black students is lacking.
Point 1 to 5 prove this. Point 6, claims other factors are involved.
Your next section of information in the question will by about the idea that other factors such
as class and gender may be the reason.
Also read the one page note on ethnicity.